Arceus' Crusader
by LufiaGuy2000
Summary: Every few hundred years, an evil artifact corrupts one of the legendaries. During this time period, Arceus chooses a 'Crusader of Arceus' to aid in defeating this legendary and saving the world. It is that time again, and Arceus has chosen a hero... Andro Huron.
1. Chapter 1

Andro

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"Shut up!" I shouted at my alarm clock as I got out of bed. I opened my window and felt the cool spring breeze on my face. "Maybe I should go for a walk in the forest today. It's nice out!" I said aloud as I got dressed in my signature outfit: a pair of blue denim jeans, a white shirt, and my black leather jacket. I grabbed a small box from my closet; this box was given to me by my grandfather, along with the knife inside of it. I reminisced on the memory for a few moments…

*****FLASHBACK*****

"Andro…" my grandfather had whispered, straining to talk on his deathbed. I moved closer. "...take the box on the table, there…" He barely managed to muster the strength to point to the end table next to his bed. Grabbing the box, I opened it and pulled out the knife that my grandfather had put in there; it had a 10-inch blade, making it useful if I ever got into a fight, or if I ever wanted to take a walk through the forest. This was his, though. I shot him a look that said, "Why are you giving this to me?"

"Andro…" my grandfather whispered again, the life beginning to fade from his eyes. "Use… it well… You are… the only… Huron… left... " His eyes glazed over, and his head fell back down on the bed. His hands went limp over the edge of his mattress, and the heart rate monitor went from a slow, dull pulse to a constant drone.

"Rest in peace, grandfather…" I managed to whisper through my tears as I walked out of the hospital room. This was it, I guess… I was the only Huron family member left… I had to extend the family legacy somehow… I got out of the hospital and immediately ran home, never looking back…

*****FLASHBACK END*****

"Good memories… I guess…" I thought as I grabbed the knife, with it's leather sheath, and attached it to my belt. I also grabbed a bottle of water and a blueberry muffin as I went outside, following the trail to the forest. I got to the forest and entered, ignoring the sign with a skull and crossbones next to the entrance. "Ha, I'm not afraid of anything this forest has to throw at me." I muttered.

Once I was in the forest, I continued to follow the trail until I got to a clearing that had a picnic table. "This looks like a good place to sit and take a short break." I said aloud as I set my backpack on the table and sat down. I grabbed my bottle of water and took a few sips before looking around at the scenery; lush green grass covered the ground with the exception of the trails, which had a rocky dirt texture. The trees were tall and had plenty of leaves about them. The pair of red eyes staring at me definitely added to the- Wait, red eyes?

Without thinking, I unsheathed my knife and shouted, "Who's there? I'm not afraid of you!" The pair of red eyes continued to stare at me, until they vanished a few seconds later. "That was weird…" I said aloud, but shrugged it off as I put on my backpack and continued walking down the trail. The sky was a light grey, but I ignored that, too, since it wasn't supposed to rain… was it?

The sky quickly continued to darken, so I decided to hasten my speed a little bit. It had started to rain, but I trudged on, raindrops assaulting my face as I stepped in mud puddles. I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance, and saw flashes of lightning in the sky. I went faster and faster until I was in a full-on sprint, hoping there was shelter of some sort at the end of the trail.

I had gotten to the end of the trail when lightning struck a tree about fifty feet away, blinding and deafening me temporarily. "I need to get the hell out of here!" I shouted as hailstones pelted the top of my head. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head.

_Over here._

?

There's a human over there, I thought to myself as I continued to watch him get assaulted by raindrops and hailstones. Half of me was inclined to leave him there for dead; the other half of me wanted to call him into the cave until the storm stopped. Finally, my good side called out and I called out to him.

Andro

I looked around for the source of the voice, but failed to find it. "W-Who's there?" I shouted, shivering from the cold and shuddering in fear of what would happen if I didn't find shelter soon.

_In the cave to your left._

I looked to my left, and there was a cave there, along with the pair of red eyes that I had seen earlier. Gusts of wind slowed me down and almost blew me over as I turned towards the cave and began walking towards it.

Nature had other ideas.

Lightning struck the trunk of a nearby tree, causing enough of the bottom to fall off so that the tree began to fall over on top of me. I realized that I had stood still too long; I leaped to my left, but it was too late. The tree still fell on my leg with a sickening THUD, followed by a CRACK and some nearly unbearable pain in my leg; It was broken, for sure. I managed to lift up the part of the tree that was on my leg just enough so that I could get myself untrapped.

I couldn't walk to the cave, so I had to crawl without using my broken leg, which proved to be quite a challenge. I had just gotten to the mouth of the cave when I heard a rumbling sound from above. Fearing the worst, I looked up and saw a lot of rocks falling off the edge of the cliff. This is it, I thought. This is where I was going to die.

?

This human was going to die here, I thought to myself. I had to do something about that, so I grabbed his neck with my teeth and dragged him into my cave.

Andro

I felt a pair of teeth grab me by the back of my neck and drag me further into the cave, into safety. I wanted to look upwards to catch a glimpse of my savior, but I couldn't until they let me go. I had no choice but to allow myself to be dragged and look back at the entrance to the cave as it slowly got smaller and smaller in the distance, until it vanished completely, leaving both me and my savior in the dark.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and there was a fire nearby, I could feel it. Finally, I felt my savior drop my neck, and I wheeled around to catch a glimpse of my savior.

An Absol stood there, staring me down.

"T-thank… y-you…" I managed to say weakly, before the damage took it's toll and my vision slowly faded to black.

_You're safe here… _I heard before I completely fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

Andro

It was all a dream, I thought to myself. I'm going to wake up in my bed, my leg isn't broken, and I definitely wasn't saved by an Absol. Smiling, I opened my eyes.

Nope. I was in a cave, sleeping on a hard rock floor, my leg was still broken and throbbing in pain, and about 20 feet away from me sat the absol, staring me down.

_I see you're awake._

Yes, I am awake. Wait, who's saying that?

_It's me. The Absol._

Looking at the Absol, my eyes widened in fear. "W-wait… you can… hear my thoughts? And you can speak in my head?" I said, a little bit louder than I had intended.

_Yes._

"How long was I out?" I asked, my inquisitiveness getting the better of me.

_Just a few hours, that's all._

I tried to sit up, but pain shot through my body when I moved my leg. Frowning, I laid back down on the floor, placing my head on my hiking backpack so that my head wasn't laying uncomfortably on a hard rock.

"I tried to heal that the best I could." The Absol finally spoke using words instead of via telepathy. "...but I'm not a miracle worker; I've managed to make it so that you only have to wait a week or so instead of a month and a half for it to heal completely, but until then, there isn't much I can do."

"Don't worry… umm… whatever your name is… I know you tried." How did this Absol manage to reduce the recovery time on my leg?

"My name is Aurora. I assume yours is Andro Huron?" The Absol replied.

"Yeah… but can you not look through all of my personal thoughts?" I requested.

"I'll try and manage…" Aurora replied with a smirk, followed by a light snicker.

"Well, anyway… it's nice to meet you, Aurora. I owe you my life for saving me back there." I made a small bow with what little movement I could do.

"Don't worry about it, you aren't the first guy I've saved from death out here." Aurora replied, moving closer to me. I opened my backpack and pulled out an emergency roll of gauze I keep in there, and then wrapped it around my leg, wincing at every small movement. Aurora watched as I applied it, and then said, "Does that help with the pain in your leg?"

"It helps to constrict the movement in my leg so that it doesn't hurt as much when I move it." I replied as I laid back down, propping my head up on my backpack as I did so. Aurora studied me for another moment, and then went back to the other side of the cave. "I was watching you ever since I first saw you enter the forest, Andro. I was trying to warn you of this storm."

Thunder boomed outside, as if in response to Aurora's comment.

"Y-You were?" I asked.

"Yeah… I was…" Aurora replied as she walked over to me. "The second I laid my eyes on you… I knew that something bad was going to happen to you, and that I would be involved somehow."

"I… just don't get how the storm came on so fast… it's as if-" I began, but was interrupted when Aurora finished the rest of my sentence.

"Arceus himself caused it…"

Aurora and I remained silent for a few more moments, listening to the sound of the rain as it thudded above. "So… what now?" I asked.

"We really have no other choice but to wait for your leg to heal up… after that…" Aurora looked at me, hoping that I had something.

"...I've got nothing, you're the one who saved me, you're the one who should make the planning." I told her.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it… until then, let's just wait for-" Aurora and I both gasped as a flash of white light interrupted the conversation. When the flash was over, I tried to look at what had happened, and silently stared in awe at what had happened:

Arceus was standing there, in the center of the cave, staring me down.

"A-Arceus…" I tried to bow, but I was laying down, obviously, so I couldn't."I-It's an honor…"

"Andro…" Arceus continued to stare me down. "...This isn't some form of coincidence that you met Aurora. This is a matter of fate…"

"Fate… what?" I looked questioningly at Arceus, expecting answers.

"Listen, Andro… you too, Aurora…" Arceus was obviously preparing to tell us a long story…

"Up on Legend Mountain, where the legendaries reside, lies an evil artifact, buried deep inside the mountain. This dark artifact has the power to corrupt a legendary every few hundred years. Some say that the artifact was made by a legendary, but others dismiss that idea and say that it was made by another outside force."

"I can neither confirm nor deny either of these theories, but I can tell when one of us gets corrupted. When a legendary is corrupted, their strength grows to levels beyond comprehension, meaning that not even the power of the other legendaries can take them down alone. They also gain tendencies to do evil instead of good. This is why I choose a champion when a legendary begins to show signs of corruption. They are called the Crusader of Arceus."

A white sliver of light began to emanate from Arceus' right eye, and it slowly started to travel to my broken leg. When it collided with my broken leg, another bright white flash blinded me for a few seconds. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that my leg looked normal; no out-of-place bones or blood, or gauze. I stood up, nearly laughing; Arceus had healed me to my full power. I even felt more powerful than I had before..I looked at Arceus, and bowed gracefully. "Thank you, lord."

"Andro Huron…" Arceus boomed, which I assumed could also be heard by the other legendaries up on Legend Mountain. "...that champion…"

"...that champion is you."

"Andro Huron, Crusader of Arceus…

"...bear the title well."

With that, Arceus evanesced in another flash of blinding white light. After I opened my eyes, Aurora was staring at me with wide red eyes. Suddenly, I heard Arceus' booming voice in my head.

_To start your adventure, you and Aurora must go to the top of Legend Mountain._

_I will meet you there…_

_...the world is counting on you, Andro.  
...Use that well._


	3. Chapter 3

Aurora

So… to recap on what had just happened… I rescued this human, whose name is Andro Huron. He fainted for a few hours, and when he awoke, we talked for a bit, and then Arceus appeared. Apparently, Andro is Arceus' chosen champion to stop the corruption of a legendary due to an evil artifact hidden inside Legend Mountain, where the legendaries reside.

"So… that was… something…" I said.

Andro

"Yeah… I guess that we have to-"

"Head to Legend Mountain." Aurora interrupted me.

"Yeah, sure." I replied. "Legend Mountain is just on the other side of this forest, right?" I asked.

"Yeah… I don't know why Arceus had to be so dramatic about this, what with the teleportation and all. Couldn't he have just spoken in our minds?" Aurora asked. "At any rate, if we're going to get to Legend Mountain in time, we need to leave, like, now." Aurora motioned towards the entrance to the cave.

"Alright, just give me a few seconds to pack up." I looked around me at the ground; I never got anything out of my bag, so I had nothing to pack up. "...Ok, never mind that, let's just get go-" Suddenly, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor; it looked aged, as if it was parchment. "What's this?" I asked curiously, picking up the paper, and seeing that it was covered in different runes and symbols.

એમ્બર

"It's… written in… Pokian… but wha-" Aurora began to say, but my mind suddenly began to tune everything out. It was as if the only things in the world were this sheet of runes and myself. Suddenly, the runes on the paper began to glow a bright purple color. I tried to drop the sheet of paper, but it was like the paper was bonded to my hand. The runes suddenly began to make sense to me, as if the paper itself was whispering to me:

_Ēmbara_

"Ēmbara!" I shouted, and watched in awe as a small orb of fire shot out of my hand, hitting the nearby campfire and setting it ablaze. Aurora was staring at me like I was crazy.

"Y-you…" Aurora barely managed to say the words. "T...t-that was Ember… a… Pokemon move…"

"Woah." Was all I could manage to say, both impressed and frightened.

"B-But… how?" Aurora stared at me, both confused and demanding.

"I… I don't know. It's as if I'm filled with… with a part of Arceus himself." I glanced at Aurora, then at my hand. Smoke still emanated from my hand, filling the air with it's smell.

Aurora looked lost in thought for a second, before snapping out of it. "We need to get to Legend Mountain, like Arceus said. Maybe they'll be interested to hear about this as well." Aurora exited the cave, and I followed.

The sky was brighter, and the lightning and thunder had left, but it was still raining pretty hard. "You lead the way, Aurora, since I have no idea where we're going." I motioned for Aurora to take the lead, and she walked towards the path that I had initially taken, so I followed her.

"So… us Pokemon have a limit to how much of a move we can use in a certain amount of time; PokePower, everyone knows that." Aurora mentioned, studying me again. "...I wonder how that works with humans… would the power regenerate over time, like with us, or something completely different?" Aurora continued to think as we moved through a forest, finally getting to a clearing. Aurora suddenly fixated on something in the distance. [i]_Shut up for a second. Get down, now![/i] _Aurora's voice boomed in my head, and it was so commanding that I had no choice but to do just that.

Aurora continued to stare in the distance for a few seconds before growling. _We're being followed. By the looks of it, it's something minor that we shouldn't worry too much about; we'll just have to outrun it._ Aurora suddenly bolted off into the distance, leaving me with no choice but to follow, sprinting.

Aurora

We were being followed. Something was trailing us; a Serperior. If we had to fight it off, then Andro and I could most likely pull it off, but I was trying to avoid any fighting, if at all possible. So, we ran to the edge of the forest in hopes we could outrun it. Unfortunately, it caught up to us and had made a barrier of leaves and vines to block off the exit.

Andro

Aurora and I continued to run until we get to the border of the forest, and then, without warning, we were blocked by a barrier of leaves and vines, which forced us to stop. A feminine voice called out to us from the other side, "My master shall be pleased; his plan shall go as planned, and the hero shall not continue!"

"Damn! We're blocked by a barrier!" I pulled out my knife and tried to hack and slash the leaves and vines down, but every slice barely left a dent in the greenery; it was as if it was made of metal. Aurora Night Slash'ed away next to me, and it did a little bit more, but it still wasn't enough to break the barrier. "Wait a second… I could use Ember to burn away the barrier!" I said, hoping Aurora would agree.

Aurora stopped for a second before saying, "Yes, that's probably our best choice right now. Do it!"

I took a step back, and then stuck my hand out. "Ēmbara!" I shouted, pointing at the barrier. The familiar orb of fire leaped out of my hand and smacked the barrier, burning a little bit of the greenery away. "Ēmbara!" I shouted again, launching another orb of fire at the barrier and burning a little bit more of the greenery away. "Hmm… I wonder…" I shoved my palm towards the barrier, closed my eyes, and thought,

_Ēmbara!_

Nothing happened.

_Ēmbara! _I thought, but this time, I continued to think solely of the barrier melting away, burning to a crisp without burning everything else around it. I suddenly felt a searing heat in front of me, and I opened my eyes to see that the barrier had burned away, exactly as I had envisioned. Aurora stared at me, impressed, as if to say, "What the hell did you just do?", but then dropped the look as she led me to the other side of the barrier and glared at our enemy;

A Serperior.

"You got through the trap, I see." The Serperior glared daggers at me, then Aurora, then me again. "So… you're the hero that Arceus was talking about… this… Andro Huron?"

"My name is Andro Huron, Crusader of Arceus. Get out of my way, you clearly work for the enemy." I said, locking eyes with the Serperior.

"Oh… I have… orders…" The Serperior exchanged one last look at me, then charged at me with swift fury. I managed to (barely) roll out of the way of the attack, and then unsheathed my knife.

"You want to play this game?" Aurora shouted before charging into the battle herself, hitting the Serperior with a swipe of her claws, followed by a Night Slash.

The Serperior continued to fixate on me, never letting me leave her sight or getting too far away. Without warning, the Serperior extended vines towards me. I tried to evade them, but they wrapped around my feet, causing me to fall. Thinking quickly, I tried to use my knife, but the vines were just as tough as the vines at the barrier. That gave me an idea.

_Ēmbara! _I thought, thinking about the vines releasing me. The vines receded after being touched by the flame, and I got up. Suddenly, everything around me started spinning around, and I felt fatigued. _No… Not now! _I thought to myself as I tried to straighten out my vision. Within a few moments, my vision returned to normal, just in time to see Razor Leaves headed my way. I pulled out my knife and managed to deflect all but one, which left a deep cut on my forearm. I looked at it; it was gushing blood and dripping onto the grass below.

Aurora

From what I could see, it looked as if Andro was faring well, although he had sustained a few cuts and bruises from falling. I saw the Serperior use Razor Leaf on him, and he deflected most of them. One of them cut his forearm pretty bad._That's it. Nobody hurts my friend except for me. _I charged the Serperior from behind, using my paws to hold it down. "Andro, quickly!" I shouted, motioning for him to use Ember again.

Andro

Aurora had the Serperior pinned to the ground beneath her claws, and I could tell that she was waiting for me to deal the final blow. "Ēmbara!" I shouted, launching an orb of fire at the Serperior. It connected, and I heard a scream emanate from the Serperior. Aurora leaped backwards in a backflip and landed right next to me. To our surprise, the Serperior got back up weakly.

"I can not be defeated! I am Ghāsa, Dark Aspect of Grass!" WIth those final words, the Serperior vanished in a leaf tornado.

I took a step forward and said, "You fought well, Aurora."

"Thanks." Aurora replied, eyeing me from head to toe. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I glanced at the gash on my arm, and said, "I suppose I should wrap some gauze around this." I removed my backpack, wincing in pain as the straps rubbed against my cut. I got some gauze from the pocket and wrapped it around the cut, hopefully stopping it from losing all my blood. "Where to, Aurora?"

"It looks like it's getting kind of dark out…" Aurora said. "Maybe we should set up camp. Do you have a tent or something?"

"I don't." I shook my head. "But my house isn't too far from here; we could crash there for the night and continue our journey tomorrow morning."

"We could do that. Lead the way, Andro." Aurora went behind me so that I could lead us back to my house.

_What if the storm blew the house down? Then what would we do? _I thought, before realizing that Aurora could read my thoughts. _Okay, think of something else. Uhm… think about tomorrow. Yeah, that'll do._

It wasn't long before we had arrived at my house, and to my surprise it was completely intact. "Huh… that's weird, a storm like that should have at least done some damage. It's just-" Without warning, the mailbox fell over on it's side. "That'll work, I guess." I shrugged as I motioned for Aurora to enter my house.

"Wow, nice place!" Aurora said. Well, it was a two-story house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms was my "all-purpose" room with a computer, TV, some beanbags, and some workout stuff. The other bedroom was just for a guest. I had the feeling that Aurora wouldn't want to sleep there, though.

Aurora

Andro's place was nice from the looks of it; it had plenty of room and looked really cozy. What a shame we were only going to stay here for one night. Looking out the window, I noticed an aurora hanging in the night sky. "I was born during the night, you know." I told Andro. "The night I was born, there was an aurora in the sky, just like that one. It's why I was named Aurora."

Andro

I listened as Aurora told me about where her name was derived from. "That's an interesting story, Aurora. I'd never have thought that." I told her after she was done. "My name means 'warrior' and I was given this name because- get this- I accidentally gave my dad a black eye a few days after I was born by poking him.

Aurora laughed. "Are you serious?" She laughed even harder when I nodded. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!" We shared this funny moment together for about a minute or so before I yawned. "Well, I think my mind's had enough for the night, I'm going to sleep." I walked over to my room and noticed Aurora following me, as if she were my shadow. I smiled; she's taken a liking to me.

I changed into my pajama pants, removed my shirt, sat down in my bed and had gotten under the covers when Aurora jumped on the bed and found her way underneath the covers too, nuzzling the side of my face. "Good night, Aurora." I smiled.

Aurora snuggled up next to me and licked my face. "Good night, Andro."

Before we knew it, Aurora and I had fallen asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Andro

I was running away from a dark figure that I couldn't see, running through underbrush that went up to the lower part of my thigh. A Shadow Ball flew past my shoulder, and I continued sprinting, ignoring the pain of thorns scratching my legs.

Without warning, I felt a searing pain on the back of my neck; the Shadow Ball had hit its mark. Screaming in agony, I fell over, face up on the ground. I tried to get up, but some invisible force was keeping me held down. Panicking, I grabbed my knife, only for it to fly out of my hand and into a nearby tree. I looked over to my right, and saw the dark figure, although its shape was indistinguishable. Just as it launched a final Shadow Ball at my face, a flash of blinding white light erupted from nearby, forcing me to close my eyes for a few moments.

When the shock went away, I reopened my eyes, and saw myself laying down on a floor that seemed to be made of cold marble. I slowly got up, rubbing the back of my neck, when I saw Arceus, as well as a few other legendaries, in front of me. I got on one knee and bowed. "My lord."

"Arceus?" A female voice, belonging to Suicune, asked from the left side of the room. "This is the hero you chose?" Suicune studied me with an ice cold glare. "...Passes my inspection. He looks strong, and handsome too."

"Erm… thank you, my lady." Suicune's comment caused me to blush a little bit. Luckily, it wasn't noticeable in the dark of the night.

"Andro…" Arceus had said, staring at me with his hard stare. "...I have borrowed your spirit from your previous dream, and brought it to Legend Mountain. Anyway, I heard that you were attacked by a Serperior. One who calls herself Ghāsa, the Dark Aspect of Grass."

"It is true, my lord." I bowed yet again, before proceeding. Looking down, I realized that I was wearing the clothes that I had worn that morning, and I was glad that my spiritual form had decided to put some clothes on, considering that there were probably a few more female legendaries. "She attacked Aurora and I as we were leaving the forest to head towards Legend Mountain."

"I see… Ghāsa must have been summoned by the corrupted legendary, and I think I know which legendary is corrupted." Arceus said, but before I could respond, he continued.

"Darkrai. He hasn't shown up to any meetings in the last few days. I haven't seen him at all, now that I think about it."

Arceus and I were silent for a few seconds before Arceus spoke again, his booming voice seemed to emanate from the walls. "Do you have any other information before I return your spirit back to your body?"

"No, sir, no-" I began, before I caught myself. "Wait, there is!"

"I'm listening, Andro." Arceus lowered his head to listen to what I had to say.

"Back at the cave, before we left the forest and got attacked… I found a piece of paper on the ground. When I picked it up, I discovered that it was covered in runes. Aurora said that it was in Pokian."

I waited for Arceus to respond, but he simply nodded, motioning for me to continue.

"Then, everything else faded out of tune except for me and the piece of paper. The runes began to glow and they seemed to whisper to me…

Ēmbara."

A ball of fire appeared in my palm, causing all of the legendaries around us to look both impressed and shocked. "Interesting…" Arceus continued to study me, and the Ember attack that was resting on my palm, before continuing. "This is an ability that very few humans have. The reason that very few humans have this ability is because… well, I don't know how to say this, but…"

"There's Pokemon blood running through you."

The longer I held the ball of fire in my palm, the more of my energy seemed to be drained. I dispelled the attack and looked at Arceus.

"Somewhere in your family tree, there is a Gijinka of some type. Normally, even the few that have this ability never learn about it because very few speak Pokian anymore. However, if the Pokemon blood running through you is potent enough to produce attacks that match the power of the Pokemon itself…"

Arceus looked at me again, before continuing with the last part of the 'lecture'.

"Teaching you Pokian would be an excellent maneuver to increase your combat abilities. It looks as if the daytime approaches." Arceus said, motioning towards the sunrise. "I am going to have to return your spiritual half back to your body. Farewell, Andro, and may my blessing be with you." Arceus shot a beam of yellow light at me, empowering me, and also causing me to wake up in my bed.

I glanced at Aurora, who had moved since we fell asleep, and was now laying across my stomach. I smiled and patted her head as she slept, looking as if nothing could ruin whatever moment she was in. I tried to get up, but Aurora was laying on me in a way that I couldn't get up, no matter how hard I tried. I sighed and looked at her as she slowly began to stir. She looked at me and said, in a low, tired voice, "Good morning, Andro. Sleep well?"

"Arceus communicated to me in my sleep." I replied, not knowing what Aurora's reaction would be.

"Arceus communicated to me as well." She said back, which shocked me.

"What did he tell you?"

"That I was to accompany you… even if it means my own death." Aurora replied, with a tone of finality. "Of course, I had already intended to do that, if you would allow me to, but now we have no choice."

"That's cool. I'd have agreed to it anyway, even if he wasn't forcing you to." I replied, petting Aurora. "He told me… that Ghāsa was ordered to attack us by the corrupt legendary, who he suspects is Darkrai. He also explained to me that… I'm able to use this ability because…" I took a deep breath, mostly to build up suspense, but also because I was reluctant to accept this fact.

"Somewhere in my family tree, there's a Gijinka, and that there is Pokemon blood coursing through my veins right now. Very few humans can use this ability, and even fewer know that they have it, because nobody really speaks Pokian anymore."

Aurora glanced at me, fascinated by what I was saying. "So… you're essentially part Pokemon?"

"I guess you could say that." I replied, still not quite accepting of that fact. "Anyway, what really intrigued Arceus is that the Pokemon blood inside of me is more potent than any of the others he's seen with this ability, and he says that…" I gulped, because I didn't want to have to learn Pokian, but I had no choice. "...I should learn Pokian, because it could allow me to use more moves like that."

"I don't know about that… Pokian is a really diverse language, and it could take months or even years to learn fully." Aurora replied, looking skeptical.

"I'm kind of reluctant about this, too, Aurora, but I don't think I have a choice if I'm going to defeat Darkrai. I mean, if WE'RE going to defeat Darkrai." I added after Aurora glared at me jokingly. She chuckled, and then leaped off the bed, allowing me to get up. "I'm going to get dressed, if you want to wait for me in the living room." Aurora left the room and I changed into a white t-shirt, with a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans to finish the set. I dragged a comb through my brown curly hair and looked in the mirror; if I didn't look like a apprentice warrior now, then I don't know what does.

I opened the door and saw Aurora standing no more than a few feet away, waiting for me to exit. "You look nice, Andro." Aurora said as she got a full look at me. "You almost look like a warrior, but something's missing..." Aurora motioned towards my knife, which was laying on the end table in the living room, nearly forgotten. I grabbed the knife and sheath and attached it to my belt. I unsheathed the knife and swung it around a few times before I placed it back in its sheath and said, "Are you ready to leave, Aurora?"

"Yeah, but don't you think we'll need this?" Aurora motioned towards the map sitting on the bookshelf.

"Yeah, good eye, Aurora!" I grabbed the map and walked out the door, followed by Aurora.

"So… Legend Mountain is…" I looked at the map; it wasn't on there. "It's not on here. Legend Mountain isn't on here. I suppose that if you wanted a top-secret base, you wouldn't want it to be known to the general public, would you?"

"No, but I know where it is." Aurora looked at me before motioning for me to follow her. She entered the forest and seemed to be looking for something near the trails. "There's a certain trigger that you need to activate in order to get there, but only a Pokemon can activate it. So don't let me die, or you're screwed." Aurora chuckled at the last part as she finally found something buried in the dirt; it was a lever.

When she activated it, a hidden stairway appeared, one step at a time, leading up into the clouds. Aurora and I stared at it, before Aurora climbed up a few steps and said, "Come on, Andro! Arceus won't wait forever, you know!"

"I know, I know." I chuckled at Aurora's impatience, then slowly shook my head and followed. I unsheathed my knife and held it in my hand for insurance; you never know what's going to happen next.

Especially having just dealt with an assassin.


	5. Chapter 5

Aurora

This was it. We were going to Legend Mountain. Arceus has requested our presence.

We were going to save the world from utter chaos.

Andro

I continued to climb the seemingly endless staircase, trying my hardest not to look down, in fear that I would have a heart attack. Aurora was in front of me, pressuring me to continue on. The higher up we went, the stronger the winds grew, and the colder I felt. I could feel the chill through my leather jacket, even. Aurora continued on, seemingly immune to the cold. How was that possible?

Looking up at the sky, I noticed that the layer of clouds was getting closer and closer as we continued up the staircase. Out of instinct, I looked down to see how far we were from the ground;

You could barely even see the ground.

I took deep breaths. In.

Out.

In.

Out.

I had finally become calm enough to continue up the staircase. I felt something wet on my hand, and I had realized that my hand had drifted into a cloud. I lifted my hand out of the cloud, and saw that it had dried nearly immediately. Suddenly, we had come to the end of the staircase.

I had stepped onto the familiar marble floor when we were met by a Lucario wielding a blade that glowed a golden yellow. "State your business." The guard said, eyeing me and Aurora down.

"I am Andro Huron, Crusader of Arceus. Lord Arceus has summoned me to Legend Mountain to discuss matters of the utmost importance."

"And who is your friend here?"

"This is Aurora. Arceus had ordered her to accompany me, even if it meant her death."

"Allow me to-"

The guard looked as if his mind were filled with thoughts. He nodded a few seconds later, and beckoned for us to proceed. "You may pass; Arceus has ordered me to let you through."

"Thank you, sir." Aurora and I had both said at the same time, as we walked by. The Lucario still continued to study as, as if he was suspicious, but then he shook his head and continued to watch for any intruders.

Aurora and I had walked into the main room, where all the legendaries were currently sitting in a circle around the center of a room, save a bit of space at the entrance. Arceus looked at me and Aurora with a welcoming smile on his face. "Welcome, heroes." Arceus took a glance at us; it felt uncomfortable being the center of attention, especially when every life form around you could kill or seriously injure you in less than a second. "We were just about to begin our meeting. Sit down, sit down." Arceus' face looked so peaceful and ordering that we had to follow this order; Aurora and I sat down, right next to each other.

"Meeting commence!" Arceus' booming voice echoed around the room, despite the fact that the walls were essentially clouds. "Notice that everyone is present, except for Darkrai." Arceus motioned towards an empty spot on the left side of the room, between Rayquaza and Suicune. "This is why I feel that Darkrai is the legendary chosen by the artifact. Those in favor?"

Everyone in the room, including Aurora and I, said, "In favor."

"Now, we have some more pressing matters to attend to." Arceus began. "This-" He motioned towards me. "-is Andro Huron, Crusader of Arceus. I have chosen him to aid us in defeating Darkrai, and stopping the evil artifact's power from destroying the world as we know it." Arceus paused, waiting for any comments.

Nothing.

"With him, is Aurora, his companion. Let's wish them a warm welcome." Arceus said, as the other legendaries cheered. Surprisingly, the noise wasn't unbearable. After the roar of cheering died down, Arceus continued. "There is another interesting thing about Andro, one that has only recently been brought to my attention. Andro, show them."

"Uhm… sure thing, my lord." I hesitated, before shouting, "Ēmbara!", and watched as the Ember attack danced on my palm.

Entei shot me a nasty look before muttering to himself. I couldn't quite hear what he had to say, but the look was all it took to make it obvious that he hated me for this 'gift' that I had. The majority of the others found it intriguing. "How is this possible?" "This cannot be!" "What?!"

"Andro, would you care to explain the whole thing to them?" Arceus asked me.

I explained to them about the paper, the Pokian on the paper, how we had linked, how I had used Ember, and, lastly, of how we had been attacked by Ghāsa, the Dark Aspect of Grass.

"This makes no sense to me." Rayquaza had said from the other side of the room; he was quiet. "So, to recap, Darkrai is the legendary corrupted by the dark artifact, and he summoned a Serperior to attack Andro here? Why didn't he just attack you himself?"

The room grew silent on that note; everyone was looking at me and Arceus. Sighing, I pitched my two cents in. "My guess is that sending an assassin would work better because he's probably busy working on other things, like… probably figuring out how to take me down before his plan can be stopped."

The others seemed to think that was reasonable, and then looked at Arceus for confirmation. "That would be a good guess as to why. Until we have a better idea of what's going on with Darkrai, we can't exactly figure out what's going on." Arceus looked like he had nothing left, until, without warning, the Lucario guard from earlier entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt, my lord, but we have an enemy attack looming close."

"What?!" Arceus' face went from calm and collected to one of pure rage. "How did they manage to get up here?"

"My lord, they're flying here."

"Everyone, to the gates!" Arceus dismissed the meeting and almost ran out of the room himself, but he stopped once he got to me. "Andro, Aurora, follow me." He went out of the room at a decent speed, and Aurora and I had to sprint in order to keep up.

We had reached the gates, where everyone in the meeting room was amassed, waiting for the next move.

"It appears that Darkrai knows you're here. How, or when, he found this out, I have no idea." Arceus said, still looking pretty pissed. "It doesn't matter, though. You are essential to our plan, so we need to keep you safe." Arceus continued to look towards the gates, as he could predict a great battle.

"My lord." I bowed again, to show respect. "I can fight on the front lines with the others, if you wish."

"Andro, listen. I know you wish to fight with the others, but we need to keep you here, at all costs. If you die, then-"

"I can fend for myself. How do you think Aurora and I defended ourselves against Ghāsa?" I protested.

Arceus stared at me for another few moments, before nodding. "Very well. You may fight on the front lines. But it's on you if the world is destroyed."

"Uhm… If I die, how can it be on me?"

"I control the afterlife of the spirits who pass." Arceus looked at me, and I saw that I was clearly outmatched. I nodded, bowed, and then walked over to the front lines, next to Suicune, Entei, and Raikou.

"What are you doing here, where you are most likely to die?" Suicune asked me with a questioning stare.

"Aurora and I can fight; we aren't disabled. Yet." I kept my eyes peeled for the enemy.

Glancing at Entei, I could easily tell that he didn't like me from the glare he gave.

It was especially the glare; His glare was almost commanding enough to make me go back to where it would be safe, but I shoved those thought aside when Aurora shouted at me. "Enemy incoming, dead ahead!" Looking in front of me, I saw a corrupted Charizard holding an Umbreon, Zoroark, and Blaziken.a Charizard carrying an Umbreon, Flareon, and Zoroark on it's back.

I unsheathed my knife and smiled.

These sons of bitches were going down.


	6. Chapter 6

Andro

The Charizard landed on the marble floor, and the crew on his back leaped off and began to charge.

Raikou zapped the Zoroark with lightning, paralyzing him and giving us time to deal with the rest; Suicune was busy fending off the Charizard and Entei was continuing to attack the Zoroark. Talk about overkill.

Looking at the Blaziken, I noticed nobody was attacking it, and yet it was doing so much damage to us. I pulled out my knife and charged, not caring about death.

My initial strike was blocked by the Blaziken, but I got a slash in on his leg. He blasted me away with a Fire Kick, but I recovered and charged again, but the Blaziken evaded and kicked me again. The second blow staggered me and nothing more. I charged one last time, and I had managed to knock him off of the platform, and stared at him as he fell into what seemed to be oblivion.

Turning around, I saw that the Charizard and Suicune were locked in what seemed to be a stalemate. "I'm coming!" I managed to slice the Charizard's tail, acting as a distraction. He turned around to me and charged up a Flamethrower. I barely managed to evade it, the bottom of my right pant leg catching on fire. This gave Suicune the opportunity to use Ice Beam, freezing the Charizard and sending him, too, with his fellow Blaziken. I stamped out the fire on my leg, and then looked around at my surroundings.

Aurora and Entei were locked in combat with the Zoroark, who was somehow evading everything thrown at him. I snuck up behind Zoroark and swept his feet out from underneath him. Glaring at me, he kicked me in the crotch, causing me to keel over in pain. Zoroark punched me in the gut, and then tackled me and pinned me to the ground, continuing to punch wherever he could hit his mark.

Aurora

It looked like Andro was in trouble. _I'm coming, don't worry! _I sent to him telepathically, then I latched onto Zoroark's back with my claws and bit into the back of his neck.

Zoroark tried to shake me off, but I clung to the back of his neck, until he had finally shaken me off. Growling, I leaped at him with a Night Slash, which then knocked him unconscious.

I walked over to Andro, panting. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine… thank you." Andro got up, then patted my head as we returned to our places on the front line.

Andro

"Wow, you sure can fight, kid!" Suicune complimented me as I returned to the front lines.

"Thanks. You're great, too." I tried to compliment her back, but I knew immediately that it failed.

Entei glared at me once more before making a comment. "It was good, I'll admit that. However, there's definitely a few flaws that I can notice. For starters, you don't have too much of a great defense, proven when you were attacked by that Zoroark. Secondly, that knife seems a bit too small to be too much use, unless you're going for a speedy or stealthy build, which it doesn't look like you're going either way, based on how you just fought. Otherwise, you're decent."

_Wow, is he some kind of combat trainer? _I thought to myself. "Thank you, Entei. I will be sure to work on those things a bit more." I tried to be polite to him, since it was kind of obvious that he just wanted me to die.

"Shouldn't there be more if they were planning an invasion?" Aurora asked.

"They could have given up after seeing what they were up against." Raikou commented, before Arceus' booming voice said from behind us, "They're fleeing! We have repelled the invasion! Return to the meeting room!"

"Oh, hey, look at that. I was right." Raikou commented before he went to the meeting room. Entei followed, and Aurora and I lagged behind with Suicune.

'"It seems that Entei doesn't like you very much..." Suicune said, eyeing me over. "Did you do something to offend him?"

"Not that I know of." I replied, thinking back to when I had first entered the meeting room; he seemed to not like me from the beginning, but he really seemed to hate me after I had demonstrated that I could use Ember. "I don't know if this means anything or not, but he only seemed to hate me after I showed that I could use my ability."

"Entei seems to be... Unforgiving of others who try to be more special than he is. He's a bit selfish that way." Suicune said back as we arrived at the meeting room. She returned to her post between her brothers, and Aurora and I returned to where we were before.

"This can NOT be a coincidence." Arceus called out. His voice was like a bullhorn. "Darkrai sent his forces to us only AFTER Andro and Aurora arrive. We must have a spy or a leak."

"Not trying to take over, my lord." I began to say, causing me to be the center of attention yet again. "But is it possible that Darkrai has some sort of surveillance, like a hidden camera or something? Even if there was a spy amongst us, there's no way that Darkrai could have received the news so fast."

The others continued to stare at me for a few seconds, and then averted their gaze towards Arceus, in hopes of a comment. He was lost in thought for a few moments, before replying. "That is entirely possible, Andro. When would he have had an opportunity to set up such a system-" Arceus began to grow, clearly remembering something.

"That one time, when Darkrai brought a Zoroark over to work on a 'project'... That 'project'... It could have been a surveillance system. Luckily, our guard is looking for such a system as we speak." Arceus looked as if we was communicating remotely with something via telepathy, and that was fine with me; I don't exactly like to listen in on private conversations.

Without warning, a loud crash occurred from outside. "I'll go check up on that." Entei said, and he left, followed by Raikou. Suicune rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself. "While we wait for Entei and Raikou to get back…" Arceus said, clearly annoyed that they couldn't have one meeting without being interrupted. "...We need to discuss the matter of where Darkrai is; we need to launch a counterattack nearly immediately!" Arceus raised his voice towards the end of his comment. "Andro, Aurora, if you would, come over here."

Well… that was a surprise. I glanced at Aurora, who looked just about as surprised as I was.

Aurora

Ok, so… Arceus called us up to the stands. Alright then.

I looked at Andro, who had caught my eye. He looked surprised, yet calm. I motioned for him to follow me, and then walked up in front of Arceus. I bowed, and Andro did the same.

"Andro… Aurora… Listen closely…" Arceus said softly, and I knew that this going to be strenuous task. "Your mission… is to figure out where Darkrai's lair is, and then signal us once you find it. I shall send Suicune with you, so you will be able to have her signal us. Understand?"

"Yes, my lord." Andro replied. I nodded my head, to show my approval.

_Aurora, listen… _Arceus was telling me telepathically. _It doesn't matter whether or not you'll die or not in the process, your goal is to protect Andro and Suicune with your life. Suicune can probably fend for herself, so your job will be less stressful. Understand?_

_Yes, my lord. _I replied.

"It is decided. Suicune, you shall aid Andro and Aurora in finding Darkrai's base. Dismissed, you th-"

Without warning, another crash was heard outside. This time, everyone in the room went outside to see the situation. Aurora, Suicune, and I stepped a bit ahead, because we didn't exactly see anything. Even Entei and Raikou were missing.

Without warning, purple flames appeared behind the three of us, separating us from the rest of the group. Looking ahead of us again, we saw Darkrai slowly gliding towards us.

"Hello, Andro Huron, Crusader of Arceus…" His slow, smooth voice said behind a crooked (what I assumed to be) grin.

I unsheathed my knife and got into a fighting position, watching as Aurora and Suicune did the same.

This was not going to be good.

Not good at all.


	7. Chapter 7

Andro

"What are you doing here?" I glared at Darkrai. Even if this spelt my own death, I wasn't going to die without taking this son-of-a-bitch down with me.

"I am here to destroy this mountain and all of those upon it." He answered, sending me a glare. "As well as killing you in the process. Your pitiful legendary friends can not help you now." Without warning, a purple aura surrounded Darkrai and the whole place began to shake. Not thinking, I charged at him while he was attempting to take the place down.

I sliced at him, but it seemed that he was impervious to all of my attacks. Darkrai laughed and knocked me backwards, sending my knife out of my reach. "Ha! You think that that will hurt me?" Darkrai laughed as he continued to shake the ground around him.

Aurora

_Andro! No! _I saw Andro get hit by Darkrai. His knife landed too far away for me to reach it, but I didn't need it. I could do this.

I leaped at Darkrai and used Night Slash, ignoring the fact that he was Dark was well as I was. The attack made contact, but he was still impervious.

"Another one?" Darkrai launched a Shadow Ball at me, but I managed to roll out of the way to avoid it.

"Hmm… so, this one knows how to fight… very well then." Darkrai launched more Shadow Balls at me, and I almost evaded all of them. The last one hit me, sending me flying to the edge of the platform.

"Aurora, no!" Andro yelled, getting up and coming over to me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I managed to get up as I stared at Darkrai, who was targeting Suicune. "This is going to be much more difficult than I thought." I added as I took a moment to catch my breath.

Suicune and Darkrai were locked in a flurry of claws and Shadow Balls, neither one of them having the upper hand.

I lunged at Darkrai as Andro went to pick up his knife, hoping that we could get at least a single hit on him.

I used another Night Slash, and looked at Andro, who was trying to use Ember on Darkrai.

"Ha! You think that'll do anything, hero?" Darkrai launched another Shadow Ball at Andro, who managed to evade the attack. Darkrai, however, was in the perfect spot for Suicune to launch an Ice Beam at him. "A good hit, but not good enough to stop me." Darkrai suddenly hit me, knocking me back into the purple flames. My vision went blurry, but not enough to stop me from seeing what was happening.

More specifically, what was happening to Andro.

"Aurora! No!" Andro shouted as he clenched his fists in rage. Suddenly, a white flash blinded everyone in the room for a few seconds. Upon opening them, I looked at Andro, and my eyes widened at what I saw:

Andro's short, curly hair was now long and flowing, and was now white, like an Absol's coat. He also had a sickle-shaped horn protruding from the side of his head, ending just above his head, where an oval sat, emblazoned on his forehead. His fists now had small claws coming out of his knuckles, and his outfit, once a leather jacket, white t-shirt, and jeans, had been tinted white.

As if he were an Absol inside, and this was his inner fury.

Andro glared at Darkrai, his new eye color intimidating me even, and the glare wasn't even directed at me.

"Darkrai…" Andro said, with a new tone to his voice, a darker tone than usual. "I will defeat you… even if it takes my own life to do it." With that monologue, Andro leaped at Darkrai, like an absol would.

Glancing through the other side of the flames, I could see the other legendaries looking both interested and frightened. They had good reason to be; with Andro's fury, he could take out anything.

Andro continually sliced at Darkrai, visibly injuring both of them more and more. Everything that Darkrai sent Andro's way was evaded, whether it be a fist or Shadow Ball.

"You… how…?" Darkrai was locked in combat, and I saw my moment. I got up, charged up a final Night Slash, and leaped at Darkrai. When I was within range, I released my attack and latched onto him with my claws and death.

Darkrai let out a loud hissing sound as he stopped moving. He began to go higher in the air, and I released, landing on the ground with grace.

"You… think I didn't bring reinforcements… or, rather, A reinforcement…?" Darkrai asked, and I immediately knew that this wouldn't be good.

"What do you mean?" Andro asked, still in his Absol-like look.

"You'll see…" Darkrai, without warning, vanished.

Weary and exhausted, I collapsed to the ground. "Are you ok, Aurora?" He shook me, petting the back of my head. That was probably the only thing keeping me from falling unconscious.

Andro

I looked at Aurora, still in my... alternate form. "Aurora? Are you ok?" I shook her and pet the back of her head; there was no way in Arceus' domain that I was going to let Aurora die on me.

"Ugh... I'm fine..." Aurora slowly began to get up, looking around at the aftermath of the battle; the once elaborate marble floor was now cracked in certain places, and completely destroyed in others. Purple fires still burned in some places, which Suicune was trying to put out. Suddenly, I felt weak. Trembling. I fell onto one knee. "Andro!" Aurora screamed as another flash of white light surrounded the area. When the light faded, I saw that I now looked like myself again. "What... the hell... was that?" I noticed that the other Legendaries were approaching.

"That... was your inner fury. When you saw the one you love-"

I blushed; I love Aurora, don't get me wrong, but not in that way!

"-get injured, the energies of your anger provoked the Pokemon side of you. Although, why it turned you into a half-Absol is unknown…"

"Is it possible, my lord, that the Pokemon part of me is an Absol?" I asked, slightly bowing my head to show respect.

"I cannot say. This is all I know. You could be right, it could also be because Aurora is an Absol, and she was the one you reacted to."

Suddenly, another flash of light occurred, and in front of us stood an image of Darkrai. "Haha. You only think you defeated me. I am infallible, the immortal one. You can not defeat me."

Next to him stood a girl about 5'9" with dull blue hair that went down to her shoulders. She wore a white t-shirt underneath a gray hoodie, and a pair of jeans ripped at the knee. She had a fairly light build, looking to weigh around 140 pounds, and she looked about 16 years old.

The thing is, I knew her.

"Elizabeth?!" I shouted at the image, not expecting this at all.

Looking at me, or my image at least, she mouthed a message to me. I understood it completely.

_I've defeated all of Master's enemies. You're next, scum._


	8. Chapter 8

Andro

I continued to look at the image, surprised to see Elizabeth standing there, on the side of the enemy. "Why, Elizabeth? Why are you fighting for Darkrai now?"

"I fight for Darkrai. He has shown me the more… powerful side of things." She glanced at Darkrai before the image cut out, leaving me staring there; my face must have shown a look of surprise.

"We have to save her. Does anyone recognize that location?" I said, suddenly showing a tone of seriousness.

"I have no idea." Aurora said. Well, that was pointless.

"I believe that I know where that was sent from." Suicune said. Everyone, including me, looked at her. "It looks like it was sent from that cave near Lake Anduin. Entei, do you remember that?

"I think so." Entei said.

"Entei. Suicune. You two will lead our heroes-" He gestures towards Aurora and I. "-to Lake Anduin. There, you will search for this 'Elizabeth' Capture her and bring her here. Do not kill her."

"If you run into Darkrai, run. Run away. You are not strong enough, even combined, to take him out on your own. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." I said, bowing my head to show respect.

"Yes, sir." Aurora did the same.

"We will do that." Suicune and Entei said, before gesturing for us to follow them. We followed them to an interesting elevator-type thing. "This will take us to the ground." Entei said, as if we were a tour guide.

All four of us entered the elevator, as it was pretty spacious inside. "To the ground, please." Suicune said. She had probably done this before, so I thought it best to just let her do her thing. No sooner had she finished her statement when the elevator shot down, my organs shooting up. This elevator seemed to move faster than most of the other ones I know.

Just as suddenly as the elevator had began to move, it stopped. If I weren't holding onto a rail inside, I would have fallen underneath Suicune, which would not end well for me. The elevator suddenly ceased to exist, as if it were teleported to the top of the 'shaft' where it had come from.

"Lake Anduin is no more than a few miles that way." Suicune gestured towards the north-east horizon. I unsheathed my knife and let Suicune lead the way. I'd just get us lost if I tried to navigate.

"So… Andro," Suicune was trying to make conversation. I could live with that. "How did you and Aurora meet?"

"Well," I said. "It's kind of a long story…" While we ventured, I explained the whole story of how I went into the woods, it began to storm, and Aurora took me into a cave to save me from a tornado.

"...and that's how we met." By then, it had been about a half an hour, and we were approximately halfway to our destination.

"That was just…" Suicune hesitated for a second. "...Wow, how dramatic."

"Yeah, I'll admit, it seemed kind of dramatic." I replied. "But, Aurora and I met, so I will forever remember that day."

"Are you sure you won't remember it because you nearly died and were saved by your _girlfriend?_" Entei said, with a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice.

I turned slightly red. "Be quiet, you."

Suicune decided to back me up. "Yeah, Entei. Lay off." Aurora and I aren't like that." I could feel my face getting redder. "Plus, She's a Pokemon, and I'm a human. It wouldn't work!"

It was Entei's turn to go red. "I… I wasn't implying…"

Suicune laughed. "I haven't seen him this red in forever! Good one, Brendan!" She used her paw to give me a high-five. I smiled, and looked at Entei. He was giving me a death glare, which probably didn't mean something good. I increased my pace just a tad, hoping that we could finish the journey faster.

Suddenly, I saw a tree that looked all-too-familiar. "Hold. I think we're here." I said as I investigated further. I saw the cave from earlier and smiled. "We're here, alright."

"Yeah, we're here." Suicune replied. Her smooth, flowing voice placed a feeling of calm within me. I walked forward and looked at the cave. "So, this is where Darkrai and Elizabeth should be?"

"If they were actually there, and it wasn't a trap," Entei glared. "Then yes, they should be in there. Let's go." Entei's voice seemed to activate my inner courage, and I pulled out my knife and walked forward, into the cave.

"Let's do this." I said as I walked forward into the death trap.

I walked into the small clearing, but the area was completely empty. "Where are you? Come out!" I said, looking around the room. "Darkrai?! Elizabeth?! Come out, you can't hide from me!"

Aurora nodded. "Come out!" She spat on the ground.

"So… You two have made it, I see." A dark, rolling voice came from my right. I aimed my knife in that direction. "How… curious. You fight for what you know is right."

"This isn't right, Darkrai!" I shouted. "You're corrupt!"

It only took a few seconds for it to happen; Before I could react, Darkrai had launched a Shadow Ball at my face, and I found myself on the ground. My face turned into one of rage, and I grabbed my knife and leaped at Darkrai.  
He evaded my attack easily. "Bah, you dare to challenge me?!" He cried out. "I'll just have my assistant deal with you two." With that, Darkrai faded into the shadow, and Elizabeth appeared in front of me. "You're going to die, and it will be at my hands."

I glared at her and directed my knife in her direction. "I don't want to kill you, Elizabeth, but if it means saving this world, then I will."  
Aurora nodded. "And I will help. The world is at stake here."  
Elizabeth glared at me. "Hmph. Fine, then. I challenge you." She suddenly had a longsword in her right hand; the blade itself was about two and a half feet long, and the hilt fit her hand just right. "Prepare to die, scum!" She shouted as she leaped at me. I held up my knife to deflect the blow, but she easily knocked the small knife out of my hand. Aurora came up from behind with a Night Slash, and Elizabeth rolled to the right to avoid it. "Hah, it'll take more than that to defeat me!" Elizabeth shouted.

Suicune tried to hit Elizabeth with an Ice Beam, but he easily evaded it. "This isn't your battle, legendary!" Elizabeth erected an invisible barrier, separating Suicune and Entei from us. I took advantage of this moment to grab my knife and lunge at Elizabeth. She saw the move, and sliced at me with her sword. I know she hit her mark when I felt a searing pain across my left arm. I ignored the pain and slashed at her with my knife. She knocked the knife out of my hand and put the blade at my throat. "Any last words, Crusader of Arceus?"

Aurora took advantage of this moment. Seemingly melding into the shadows, she snuck up behind Elizabeth and charged up a Night Slash. She released it, aimed directly at the back of Elizabeth's neck. When she was hit, Elizabeth seemed unfazed. Then, she fell to the side, her blade inches from cutting my neck open. "T-Thanks, Aurora." I got up and looked at Elizabeth. "Is she… dead?" I knelt down next to Elizabeth and checked for a pulse. She had one, but it was weak. "I suppose not. She's dying, though."

Suicune walked over to me and nodded. "Are you alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Brendan replied.  
"Your arm… it looks pretty bad… I suppose that we might be able to get Xerneas or Virizion to look at it back at Legend Mountain." Then, she took a look at Elizabeth. "She may have switched over to Darkrai's side, but she is still a friend of yours, correct?

I nodded. "Yeah, she was a friend of mine back when we were younger. We were best of friends, and we were even boyfriend and girlfriend at one point."  
Suicune nodded in understanding. "Go on."  
"When I first saw her, through that vision… I didn't believe my eyes. I would have thought she knew better than to trust Darkrai. I wish… I wish we could save her."

Suicune looked at me with a sad look, but then her eyes lit up. "Maybe… Maybe we still can."

I looked at Suicune. "What do you mean?"  
"If there's a way that we can convince the others back on Legend Mountain that she's on our side now, maybe we can get Xerneas or Virizion to heal her, maybe at the same time as you." She looked at me with a look of determination.  
I nodded. "Maybe… Maybe that would work. But how will be convince them?"  
Suicune motioned towards Elizabeth, whose eyes still had a flicker of life left. I immediately rushed over to her. "Listen, Elizabeth…"

She looked at me once more. "B-Brendan…?" It was clear that she wouldn't survive at this rate.

"Elizabeth. Listen to me very closely." I whispered to her. "We're going to take you back, but you need to convince them that you're on the good side now. Do you understand?"  
Elizabeth stared at me with a blank stare. For a second there, I thought we had lost her. "Y-Yes… I u-understand."  
I smiled. "Good. We're going to take you back. Just hang in there."

Elizabeth weakly nodded. Aurora helped me lift Elizabeth onto my shoulders, which was a pain.

Suicune looked at me with the same sad look she had earlier. "Brendan, put her on my back, and you climb on afterwards." She knelt down to make it easier. I did just as she said, and I held on to Elizabeth to make sure she didn't fall off. Once we were all settled, and we made sure that Elizabeth and I wouldn't fall off, we began the trek back to Legend Mountain.


End file.
